With more than 35 years of experience, Delhi-based Empowera Technorganics has been changing the use of water-based emulsions in adhesives and coatings in various industries, with special attention to the printing and packaging industries. The company has recently developed a series of products for barrier coating applications, which will reduce the amount of plastic in the packaging industry and improve sustainability. For decades, functional coatings and barrier coatings have been used to enhance the characteristics and performance of paper and cardboard products.

With the advancement of technology, Empowera now has a water-based high-performance barrier coating, which helps to make repulpable/recyclable paper for food packaging, e-commerce delivery packaging, food delivery service packaging, paper cups, paper plates, resistant Alkali soap wrappers and many other applications to date have used some form of plastic coating or laminate. Empowera Technogranics Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rahul Mahajan said: “At Empowera, our focus is to promote sustainable development in all market segments and industries that we cater to. Barrier coatings, food-grade compliant and repulpable water-based adhesives Mixtures and special coating systems are our path to a better future for us and future generations. Empowera provides a series of solutions to create barrier properties in paper and cardboard. The product can be used in a variety of ways. End use, including the replacement of polyethylene, fluoride or wax in food packaging, paper cups, plates, wrapping paper, etc. All products are available in ready-to-use form, and the viscosity can be adjusted according to the application. Products comply with FDA and EU regulations to ensure consumers Safety and end product sustainability. These products were launched in early 2020 and are made of 100% repulpable and recyclable acrylic copolymers. The products form a protective layer on paper and other substrates for various applications Provides water, oil and grease resistance. Mahajan said that barrier coatings are designed to replace plastics in certain applications in packaging to improve the sustainability of the industry. "In the past few decades, the use of plastic products has Exponential growth. Most forms of plastic are non-biodegradable and take hundreds of years to decompose. Although plastics are recyclable to a certain extent, in countries such as India, due to poor waste collection and segregation practices, most plastic coated/laminated products end up in garbage dumps," he explained. Therefore, these products are geared towards papermaking And processing supply chain stakeholders. This includes paper mills that want to provide barrier-coated paper for food packaging and other applications. All general purpose and food packaging processors are willing to reduce the use of plastics in their products to improve sustainability and Meet the needs of customers and policies in various industries.

Empowera's E-Aqua series of water-based functional coatings are suitable for paper, film, foil or other substrates. They have a variety of characteristics, such as high gloss, matt, non-slip, water and grease resistance, alcohol resistance, high adhesion, soft touch, Anti-blocking, anti-microbial, etc., to meet the top coat requirements of our customers. These products provide fast processing and extend the life of the printed substrate. The high-quality waxes, wetting agents, leveling agents and other additives used in these products help us control product performance characteristics such as foaming, slip, gloss or abrasion resistance. Empowera also provides UV-curable coatings for various substrates under the ECUV brand name to provide the highest level of finishing and protection of the underlying surface. UV coatings are cured under ultraviolet light through a chain polymerization process, forming a highly cross-linked structure within a few seconds. The coating series provides customers with different performance characteristics in terms of reactivity, gloss, scratch resistance, chemical resistance, flexibility, viscosity and processability. The products are made of carefully selected raw materials to improve the safety of use and minimize the yellowing trend. All coatings have 100% solid content, thereby minimizing VOCs and providing 100% product utilization. The company also provides tailor-made products according to customer requirements through its internal UV coating and curing equipment, plus an experienced R&D team and well-trained employees. Market Mahajan said that with the increase in people's awareness, the Indian packaging industry has begun to remove plastics (especially disposable plastics) in the printing and packaging industry, and these products are a step in this direction. "These products are cost-effective and are suitable substitutes for PE coating/plastic film lamination in a variety of applications, including short-term food packaging," he said. He added that the product is becoming more and more popular worldwide. "Our products are carefully designed to perform well on various required parameters," he said. Paper with such a barrier is commonly used in food packaging applications, such as paper cups, paper trays and envelopes, e-commerce delivery packages, and so on. USP Mahajan said that good performance and ease of use of current application technology are the main USPs for this product. "Currently, a large part of the barrier coating market is dominated by PE-coated paper products. It is extremely difficult to separate this type of plastic from paper, and it leads to waste of paper and plastic, which eventually enters the garbage dump. We provide a solution designed to simplify paper recycling. Process water-based coatings, because the coating itself becomes part of the paper fiber when repulping, thus achieving excellent recyclability and minimal waste," he explained. He reiterated that this is an easy-to-use product. He said that for certain applications, such as food packaging, the company recommends that customers follow the necessary hygiene guidelines and industry standards to ensure that the final product is suitable for direct food contact applications. The company believes that the sustainability of the packaging industry is of utmost importance, and all relevant stakeholders (including manufacturers, processors and end customers) are naturally concerned about sustainable development. "Customers want simple and clean packaging to keep products intact; reliable brands and environmentally friendly packaging materials. What customers don't want is excessive packaging and wasted products; massive use of plastics; leaking liquids and environmentally friendly packaging. Understand this interest And the key point, the government is now implementing policies to reduce the use of plastics. Our goal is to fulfill our role in this area by creating products that help us move forward on this path," Mahajan concluded. He added that the product is gaining a “global movement, and every country is looking for a place for sustainable development,” he added. In other words, customers are looking for parameters such as water heat sealability/heat resistance, food contact status, etc.

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